Thoughts and observations by English poet Roger N. Taber, a retired librarian & poet-novelist.- "Colour, creed, sex, sexuality... these are but part of a whole. It is the whole that counts." RNT [NB While I have no wish to create a social network, I will always reply to emails. Contact: rogertab@aol.com].

Saturday, 17 August 2013

The Banker

Gay or straight, human nature is much
the same world-wide. I dare say a good many of you can count at least one
or two fair weather friends of your own. Maybe they
might even recognise themselves in what I have to say on the subject although I
doubt it.

Now, my
mother rarely had a bad word to say about anyone and would put herself out for just about everyone. But I recall how she once
referred to one of her closest friends as a vampire. I was curious. She told me
that some people are only after what they can get out of a friendship, and when
they have taken their fill they will waste no time looking elsewhere. So why
bother with them, I wanted to know? My mother shrugged. ‘When people need you,
what choice do you have but to be there for them?’

True
enough, when we moved and it meant making an effort to stay in touch, the
friend soon dumped my mother for someone who was more convenient, and we never
saw her again. I was angry on my mother’s behalf, but she took it in her
stride. ‘Yes, some people can be very hurtful,’ she explained to boy Roger, but
they can’t help it. For them, it comes with being human just as some of us were
born to be hurt.’ She said this without a trace of bitterness although she was
clearly upset.

I, too, have suffered my share of vampires. Not any more. There comes a time when you have
to escape their clutches or go on letting them hurt you. They are not horrible people, just thoughtless and self-centred. Neither are uncommon traits, but only human albeit aspects of human nature we much prefer to gloss over.

Fortunately, though, I have also inherited my mother's spirit of endurance, especially while I have to deal
with side effects of treatment for my prostate cancer. For now at least, yours truly is putting himself first. Even so, if a good friend has a problem, its mine too, and I will help as and when I can, not least because another trait from which I try to take a leaf from my mother's book embraces yet another of her frequently repeated sayings; how we reap what we sow in this world.

In recent years, I have experienced various health problems, not easy to deal with when you live on your own. Fortunately, too, though, I have some good friends, including some wonderful neighbours; they have rallied round and given much-needed support. My mother's adages have frequently come to mind, also a much-quoted wry comment by the poet, Robert Frost: "A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain."

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About Me

A gay man. Born in Gillingham, Kent (UK) Dec. 21st 1945. Graduated with BA Hons.(Class 2/1) in English & American Literature, the University of Kent in Canterbury, summer 1973.

Some 700+ poems have appeared in poetry publications worldwide since 1993, excluding any that only appear in my collections.

Better known as a poet, my first novel - 'Blasphemy' was published in the USA, October 2006 ; it is Book 1 of a planned trilogy and was also distributed in the UK & the rest of Europe. Book 2 - 'Sacrilege' -was self-published and only on sale in the UK or on the Internet. [Book 3 - 'Redemption' - has been delayed due to illness. (I have prostate cancer.) Other novels have not yet found an agent/ publisher but are serialised on my fiction site.